From Our Correspondent
TURA: A makeshift camp of the banned GNLA that was being used to treat injured cadres was busted by East Garo Hills police and a large quantity of medicines seized from Rongjeng area early Sunday morning.
A combined force of East Garo Hills police, SWAT and CoBRA commandos were searching a suspected hideout of the GNLA in the jungles near Chibilbang village, 10 kms from Rongjeng, when they were fired upon by a GNLA sentry atop a hill where the field camp for medical treatment of injured cadres was located.
A brief exchange of fire took place from both sides during which time the militants managed to escape with their weapons and cadres who were undergoing treatment inside the jungle camp.
When the police teams entered the camp they found a large amount of medicines, bandages, IV drips and syringes left behind by the retreating militants besides medical journals on treatment of wounds and GNLA letter pads.
From the presence of used bandages and syringes left at the camp it was indicated that some of the injured cadres had been recuperating when security forces zeroed in on them.
It was also believed that as many as eight to ten cadres, including the injured, had been at the camp before the security forces came calling as indicated from the used items left behind by the GNLA cadres.
Police sources reveal that the injured militants who were being treated at the camp had been wounded during an encounter with SWAT and CoBRA commandos at Koksi Nengsat village of Songsak on April 13.
In that encounter two militants identified as Nangrepa and Imre were gunned down while four others, namely Lando, Jarek, Bikram and Target, sustained bullet injuries and escaped.
It is said that one of the injured militants succumbed to his injuries and was buried at an undisclosed location while three others survived and went on to get medical treatment.
“Every evidence points to the fact that those militants who received injuries in that encounter were being treated at this camp busted by our forces,” informed district SP JFK Marak.
The area commander of East Garo Hills Ajan Marak alias Jimmy along with his deputy Marcus was reportedly present in the camp when it was raided during the early morning hours of Sunday. The two senior leaders had narrowly escaped the police encounter at Koksi Nengsat village over a week ago.